The guide to the world’s leading financial and corporate law firms

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Registration
3. How to participate in the research
4. How to submit research forms and client referees
5. Research timetable
6. Research methodology
7. IFLR1000 Awards
8. Firm ranking and lawyer rating criteria
9. Leading Lawyers
10. Women Leaders

1. Introduction

IFLR1000 undertakes qualitative research into law firms and lawyers to inform the publication of annual rankings, ratings and awards, and editorial content.

The company has been producing legal market intelligence since 1990 and remains the only international legal market research brand focused on ranking law firms and lawyers on the basis of financial and corporate transactional work.

Currently IFLR1000 publishes more than 750 practice area law firm rankings and more than 20,000 lawyer ratings across more than 235 jurisdictions - national and regional - globally. We accept submissions from firms based anywhere in the world and will produce rankings and ratings for any jurisdiction which we have sufficient deal evidence and client feedback for. You can view a complete list of all rankings we are actively researching on our PRACTICE AREA RANKING CATEGORIES BY JURISDICTION GUIDE.

Our researchers track legal market developments (transactions and law firm news) throughout the year to inform their research. If you have any relevant firm or deal news you would like us to consider for our research or online output, please contact the relevant regional editor via IFLR1000's contacts page.

2. Registration

If your firm is interested in participating in the research, register your contact details through the link below to receive IFLR1000 research announcements and newsletters. Throughout the year we provide updates about the progress of our research, including essential information such as deadlines, research form templates and guidelines, and access to newly published research and editorial content.

3. How to participate in the research

Each year we ask firms to provide annual submissions to inform our research. There is no fee to participate in the research or to be ranked. The research process culminates in the publication of law firm rankings, individual lawyer ratings and firm editorial reviews.

If you work for a law firm that advises on work relevant to our research (see PRACTICE AREA DEFINITIONS), you can participate by completing a research form and providing supporting referees for us to contact by the submission deadline: FEBRUARY 24, 2022. Firms can submit one research form and supporting referees per practice area and jurisdiction. You can view a complete list of all rankings we are actively researching on our PRACTICE AREA RANKING CATEGORIES BY JURISDICTION GUIDE.

The research form asks for basic information on the structure and focus of the practice, recent changes to the team, and 20 highlight deals per practice area - although there is no limit on how many deal examples firms submit.

We survey client referees for their opinion on the performance of firms and lawyers during the research cycle. Client referees must have worked with the firm in the 18 months prior to submission on work relevant to our research.

Firms can submit an unlimited number of referees - we guarantee all referees provided by the initial submission deadline will be contacted - and we encourage firms to at least provide referees for each deal example the firm submits and referees for all lawyers firms nominate for a rating. 

Completing the research form

From a firm and lawyer ranking perspective, the most important section of the research form is the 'Deal highlights'. The reason for this is experience on complex, innovative or significant deals is the key factor we use to determine a firm or lawyers' ranking. 

**New for 2022**

Excel work highlights template

For the 2022 research cycle, IFLR1000 has created an Excel format work highlights template* (client referee details should also be submitted on this document - more information below) to cover Section 3 on the Word research form template. We encourage firms to submit deals/work highlights on the Excel template so they are formatted in a way that they can easily be uploaded to IFLR1000 Deal Data. We are relaunching the database in this research cycle and have developed a semi-automated process for uploading content to expediate the process. The process relies on the data being in an Excel format and non-confidential deals submitted on the new template in 2022 will be uploaded within this cycle.

*The Excel form does not completely replace the Word template. Please continue to use the Word template to provide information about the law firm and its lawyers (Sections 1 and 2). Firms can continue to submit work highlights on the Word template if they prefer.

Excel client referee submissions

From 2022, firms should submit client referees on our client referee Excel template (which also has a tab for work highlights - see above). Completed forms must be submitted through the Euromoney Accreditation Portal. See '4. How to submit research forms and client referees' for more detail.

IFLR1000 taxonomy files

IFLR1000 has created taxonomy files for key sections of work highlights. Please reference and use the relevant item on these documents when completing the work highlights section on the forms (links to relevant files are hyperlinked); these are available as drop-down menus on the Excel work highlights form.

• Currency taxonomy
• Client role taxonomy
• Deal type taxonomy
• Industry sector taxonomy
• Jurisdiction taxonomy

Please note:

• We provide qualitative not quantitative rankings so you should focus on including complex work rather than on including a high number of deals when submitting work highlights.

• Please provide us with as much information about the firm’s deals as possible. The more information we have, the better able we are to make an accurate assessment of the firm. We will not disclose any information marked confidential.

• Always give a clear explanation of the firm’s roles on the deals and why the deals were complex, innovative or significant.

• Please only include work that is relevant to our research on the form (see ‘Practice area ranking categories’ section in '6. Research methodology' section). We do not research arbitration, disputes, employment, IP, litigation, or tax work. Any work submitted that falls into these practice areas will not be taken into account. 

4. How to submit research forms and client referees

There is no fee to participate in the research or to be ranked.

There are four steps to the submission process:

1. DOWNLOAD RESEARCH FORM HERE and complete as fully as possible
2. DOWNLOAD CLIENT REFEREE AND WORK HIGHLIGHTS TEMPLATE and complete as fully as possible
3. UPLOAD RESEARCH FORM(S) AND CLIENT REFEREES TO EUROMONEY ACCREDITATION PORTAL (one of each form for each practice area submission for a jurisdiction) 

**New for 2022**

Euromoney Accreditation Portal

IFLR1000 and Euromoney (the business' parent company) have developed a new submission portal (Euromoney Accreditation Portal). We will be sending an announcement with further details in December 2021.

Benefits for participants

• Ability to create an account
• All submission data stored within firm accounts
• Detailed submission alerts
• Ability to submit referees on Excel
• Single portal for all Euromoney legal brands (AsiaLaw, Benchmark Litigation, IP Stars, LMG Life Sciences, and World Tax) 

Please note:

• By submitting your firm and lawyers will be considered for all relevant research undertaken in calendar year 2021: 32nd edition of IFLR1000's international research; IFLR1000's regional rankings and domestic awards for Canada, China and the United States; the IFLR1000 India Awards; and, IFLR1000 Women Leaders.

• IFLR1000 does not accept submissions by email.

• All referees uploaded through the Euromoney Accreditation Portal on the IFLR1000 Excel template by the deadline will be contacted. Please do not submit client referee contact information on the research form.

• Please do not submit research forms using the PDF format.

• If you have any questions about the submission process, please contact the relevant regional editor via IFLR1000's contacts page.

5. Research timetable

Below you will find the key research deadlines and publication dates for all IFLR1000 research to be published in the calendar year 2022.

• Research interviews conducted: January – July 2022
• Submission deadline: February 24, 2022
• Client Referee Feedback Survey: March – April 2022
• Lawyer Survey: March – April 2022
• Women Leaders 2022 published: Spring 2022
• Banking and finance law firm rankings published: May 25, 2022
• China Awards shortlists announced: June 2022
• Capital markets; and Investment funds law firm rankings published: June 29, 2022
• China regional firm rankings and Leading Lawyers: July 2022
• Financial and corporate; and Project development law firm rankings published: July 27, 2022
• Canada and United States Awards shortlists announced: August 2022
• China Awards ceremony: August 2022
• India Awards shortlists announced: August 2022
• M&A; Private equity; and Restructuring and insolvency law firm rankings published: August 24, 2022
• Leading Lawyers (all practice areas): August 24, 2022
• Subscriber firm reviews and client feedback published: September 28, 2022
• Canada and United States Awards ceremony: October 2022
• India Awards ceremony: October, 2022
• Non-subscriber firm reviews published: November 30, 2022

Practice area rankings monthly publication timetable 

New practice area firm rankings – for both national and regional jurisdictions – will be published across a period of four months, with the first new ranking tables published in May and the last in September.

May 25, 2022

• Banking and finance (including asset finance, bank lending, financial restructuring, leveraged finance, and project finance tables)
• Financial services regulatory

June 29, 2022

• Capital markets (including debt, derivatives, equity, high yield, and structured finance and securitisation rankings)
• Investment funds (including hedge, private equity, real estate, registered, and retail funds rankings)

July 27, 2022

• Financial and corporate (including offshore rankings)
• Project development (including energy, infrastructure, mining, power, PPP, telecommunications networks, and transport rankings)
• Real estate (only relevant to the United States state rankings)

August 24, 2022

• M&A
• Private equity
• Restructuring and insolvency
• Leading Lawyers (all practice areas)

6. Research methodology

IFLR1000 evaluates law firms and lawyers by practice area within a jurisdiction on the basis of transactional evidence and client feedback. 

6.1: Transaction assessment criteria

IFLR1000 assesses and compares transactions by how complex or challenging the work is or whether there was any innovation involved in the deal or its structuring. Firm and lawyers that consistently – over at least several research cycles or three calendar years – advise on a share of the most complex or innovative transactions in their markets, and that receive excellent feedback for that work, will be ranked or rated highly. See ‘Firm ranking and lawyer rating criteria’ section for more detail.

6.2: Jurisdiction criteria

IFLR1000 ranks firms according to the work undertaken by firms’ lawyers based in a jurisdiction. Only firms with an office in a jurisdiction licensed by a local bar association can be ranked in that jurisdiction’s rankings. Lawyers must be licensed and based in a country to be rated at a national level there. 

Currently IFLR1000 publishes more than 750 practice area law firm rankings and more than 20,000 lawyer ratings across more than 235 jurisdictions - national and regional - globally. We accept submissions from firms based anywhere in the world and will produce rankings and ratings for any jurisdiction which we have sufficient deal evidence and client feedback for. You can view a complete list of all rankings we are actively researching on our PRACTICE AREA RANKING CATEGORIES BY JURISDICTION GUIDE.

Regional research: IFLR1000 Canada, China and the United States

Primarily IFLR1000 ranks firms and lawyers on a national jurisdiction level, with three exceptions. In Canada, China and the United States, in addition to our national rankings, we also research firms on the basis of their teams’ work in provinces, regions or states. 

Canada, China and the United States are three of the four largest countries by landmass in the world and each has local legal markets where the firms that dominate the areas of legal work IFLR1000 researches vary from a regional to a national level.

Please be aware:

• To be eligible to participate in the research for a province, region or state, firms must have an office within the relevant jurisdiction licensed by a local bar association. Lawyers must be licensed and based in a province, region or state to be rated there

• If a firm submits nationally we do not require it to provide a separate submission to participate in the relevant regional research. We will use research forms and referees submitted by firms in Canada, China and the United States to make an assessment of both the firms’ and the lawyers’ at national and regional levels.

• Firms in Canada, China and the United States can either submit at a national level by practice area or at a regional by practice area. For example and firm in Canada, can provide a national M&A submission, or M&A submissions for each of the provinces where it has offices.

• To view which practice areas we currently produce rankings for in regional jurisdictions - and those we intend to in the next research cycle - see our PRACTICE AREA RANKING CATEGORIES BY JURISDICTION GUIDE.

• For our China regional research firms can submit forms written in Mandarin, our researcher conducts interviews in Mandarin, and all content is published in Mandarin and English.

IFLR1000 China

IFLR1000 China researches firms and rates lawyers in nine provinces/municipalities listed below. The research is undertaken and published in mandarin and English. Firms can submit work that falls into any of our core practice areas (see ‘Practice area ranking categories’ section).

• Beijing
• Chongqing
• Guangdong
• Jiangsu
• Shandong
• Shanghai
• Sichuan
• Tianjin
• Zhejiang

IFLR1000 Canada

IFLR1000 Canada researches firms and rates lawyers in the seven regions listed below. Firms can submit work that falls into any of our core practice areas (see ‘Practice area ranking categories’ section).

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• Maritimes
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Saskatchewan

IFLR1000 United States

IFLR1000 United States researches firms and lawyers in all 50 states and DC. Firms can submit work that falls into any of our core practice areas (see ‘Practice area ranking categories’ section) and also transactional real estate development, financing or M&A work. Our real estate rankings are exclusive to the United States, and at a state level only.

6.3: Practice area ranking categories

IFLR1000 ranks firms and lawyers by practice area. Our research focuses on financial and corporate and project development work. We assess work in the following practice areas (a financial and corporate ranking is based on all the types of work listed below excluding project development):

• Banking
• Capital markets
• Financial services regulatory
• Investment funds
• M&A / transactional private equity
• Project development
• Project finance
• Restructuring and insolvency

To view the type of work that can be submitted for each practice area, see our practice area definitions below or DOWNLOAD PRACTICE AREA DEFINITIONS: 

The practice areas we produce rankings for vary by country, depending on the volume of work generally seen in a market and how specialised firms and lawyers are within the market concerned. To view which practice areas we currently produce rankings for in your jurisdiction and those we intend to in the next research cycle, see our PRACTICE AREA RANKING CATEGORIES BY JURISDICTION GUIDE*.

*Please note we accept submissions from firms based anywhere in the world and will produce rankings for any jurisdiction where we have sufficient deal evidence and client feedback.

7. IFLR1000 Awards: Canada, China, India and the United States

The IFLR1000 Awards are based on the research conducted by IFLR1000’s researchers during the annual research cycle and use as their primary source the IFLR1000 submissions. The awards research is also supported by a dedicated awards team, combining IFLR1000’s existing methodology, honed over 30 years of covering legal markets, with a resource to analyse unique transactions in detail.

All decisions relating to the shortlists and winners are independent and made by an IFLR1000 panel consisting of the regional editors and researchers. Each shortlist is the culmination of months of research, analysing hundreds of submissions, surveying thousands of referees and interviewing hundreds of lawyers.

The awards recognise and celebrate the best-performing law firms and lawyers as well we the most impressive deals of the year within a single market. They endeavour to reflect the depth of domestic legal markets, with categories recognising work at state or region level.

You can read a detailed explanation of the IFLR1000 Awards methodology and criteria on the IFLR1000 AWARDS RESEARCH GUIDELINES.

7.1 Awards research methodology

7.3 Award categories criteria

Pease note: the categories in each awards vary. More detail can be found in the IFLR1000 AWARDS GUIDELINES.

8. Firm ranking and lawyer rating criteria 

Our law firm rankings and lawyer ratings are based on three key criteria:

8.1: Transactional evidence

In each research cycle we ask firms to provide transactional highlights from a designated period.

Transactional evidence is the decisive factor we use to determine a firm’s ranking. For a firm to be ranked, it must have a track record of advising on transactional work relevant to our ranking categories. The same applies to the ratings of individuals; lawyers must have been working on significant deals in some capacity to be rated.

We assess transactions for complexity or innovation through criteria which varies according to the practice area and jurisdiction. When making an assessment of firm’s work we take into account the volume of complex work a firm does in an area. Firms that consistently have a high market share of complex deals, relative to their jurisdiction and the practice area, are ranked highly, if we have sufficient supporting client feedback for the work.

Primarily firms submit deals to us via the research form. Our research team also monitors daily deal news and updates to complement this.

We also analyse statistical evidence of transaction values and volumes produced by external publications.

8.2: Client feedback

We use client feedback to help us asses the quality of advice and service lawyers and firms are providing. We survey tens of thousands of corporate and in-house contacts provided to us by participating firms annually to ask their opinions on the firms and lawyers they use.

Client feedback is used in support of transactional evidence when determining a firm’s ranking or lawyer’s rating. What this means is good feedback alone will not ensure a firm or lawyer is ranked or rated – a firm or individual must be experienced in advising on significant transactional work.

When you submit you should try and provide referees for all the lawyers at the firm you feel should be rated. A lawyer working on significant deals who receives a reasonable amount of good client feedback is more likely to be rated. 

Increasing response rate of referees

Some ways we have found increase the number of referees who respond to our survey are:

• Confirm that your referees are happy for us to contact them before you provide their details to us.
• Only provide referees the firm has advised on work relevant our rankings tables.
• Only provide referees the firm has advised on relevant work in the 18 months prior to submitting.
• Notify your referees when we will be contacting them. We email all firms in advance of contacting their referees with details about the email referees receive.

8.3: Peer feedback

During each research cycle we conduct an online Lawyer Survey of lawyers to get their thoughts and feedback on the firms and lawyers in their markets. All partners and senior lawyers active in work relevant research to our ranking categories are invited to participate.

We conduct a significant number of phone and face-to-face interviews with practitioners, where we ask for feedback on firms and discuss trends. By discussing market trends we are able to gain a better understanding of what the most significant deals in the market have been recently, which helps us assess work submitted to us.

Peer feedback can be particularly useful for individual ratings as lawyers are well placed to recognise the leaders in their own practice areas.

Peer feedback is secondary to client feedback and we only take feedback into account where it is supported by deal evidence. 

IFLR1000 Lawyer Survey

Our annual Lawyer Survey is an opportunity for lawyers to provide evidence to support a Leading Lawyer rating and to provide feedback on our rankings and ratings.

Lawyers can provide us with recent examples of their work and details about their practice area and industry sector specialisms, which will be assessed when we evaluate our Leading Lawyer ratings.

Lawyers can also provide feedback on the rankings and the legal markets they work in. Relevant and reasoned feedback will be taken into consideration if we find supporting evidence. 

9. Leading Lawyers

In addiotn to firm rankings, IFLR1000 also recognises the work of outstanding individuals.

IFLR1000's lawyer ranking categories are primarily based on transactional evidence and client feedback. When you nomintae lawyers for a category by making a submission, please include at least three examples of each nominee’s work within the research cycle in the work highlights section (using the Word or Excel templates) and three referees (using the Excel template) who can provide feedback on their work.

IFLR1000 only recognises lawyers in the jurisdiction where they are based.

Market Leader

Lawyers in this category are reputationally true leaders in their practice area(s) and jurisdiction and have track records of leading on high-profile, innovative deals.

Women Leader

To be ranked Women Leader, lawyers must meet the criteria for Market Leader (stated above) or must hold high status within their market for their leadership abilities.

Highly Regarded

Lawyers who are highly regarded by their peers, possess a strong transactional record and consistently receive positive client feedback.

Expert Consultant

Senior figures with name recognition who focus on consulting and building client relationships.

Rising Star Partner

Lawyers who made partner relatively recently who are working on complex deals and are recommended by clients or peers. Only lawyers who made partner within three years of the relevant submission deadline (February 24, 2022) are eligible for this rating.

Rising Star

Ones to watch: lawyers building their reputations in the market who are working on notable deals and are recommended by clients or peers. Only non-partners who qualified within 15 years of the current research period (January 1, 2021) are eligible for this rating.

Notable Practitioner

We recognise lawyers who have track records of advising on significant deals in the context of their market and practice area as Notable Practitioners.

10. Women Leaders

IFLR1000 Women Leader is an elite ranking category reserved for the most prominent women lawyers across the world working in the areas of law IFLR1000 researches.

The 2021 cohort features around 750 lawyers, almost double the number recognised in 2020. 

Criteria

To be ranked Women Leader, lawyers must have outstanding reputations for working on complex or innovative deals or must hold high status within their market for their leadership abilities.

Lawyers must be working in the areas of financial and corporate transactions or regulation, or in contract, licensing or regulatory work related to project development to be eligible for this rating category.

IFLR1000 uses evidence submitted on research forms and client and peer feedback as the primary resource for Women Leaders' research. Please see 'Section 8' of the guidelines for more information. 

Research process

IFLR1000's research teams in Hong Kong, London, New York and Sofia collectively analyse thousands of research submissions, conduct thousands of interviews with law firm partners, and survey tens of thousands of clients to determine IFLR1000's Women Leaders.

Each year Women Leaders uses the previous submission cycle's data for the research. Women Leaders 2022 will be based primarily on submissions made in 2021. 

How to participate

The best way to participate in the Women Leaders research is through the annual IFLR1000 research cycle. Firms can nominate lawyers on the IFLR1000 research form and should include deal evidence (ideally three) and referees (ideally five) for each individual they nominate. Individual lawyers can also nominate themselves by taking our Lawyer Survey (open in March 2022).